FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT FRIDGE - PAGE 4

Our refrigerators are always crowded. But once you remove the extraneous odds and ends - the half-eaten bagels, mysterious foil-wrapped leftovers, desiccated parsnips in the veggie drawer - and rearrange the fridge's contents with some sense of organization, you'll be surprised how much more fits. Not only that, but what you've got will stay edible longer. Here, with the help of Whirlpool's Institute of Home Science, are some ideas on getting your fridge in order. Clear the decks: The first step is to clean out your fridge.

Take a peek into Chef Gabriel Viti's home fridge and what registers most is an awareness of what you don't see: no three-week-old dish of petrified pasta, no wilting clump of forgotten greens and definitely no thicket of crusty condiment bottles in the far reaches at the back. Bags are neatly labeled and dated, tubs of raw ingredients are scrupulously fresh and ready to prep. The scene is not unlike what you'd find on the shelves of the walk-in coolers at Viti's Highwood restaurants, Gabriel's and the just-opened Miramar.

A monster is lurking in the break rooms of companies across the nation. It's the office refrigerator, bulging at the seams as leftover plastic-foam boxes and forgotten Tupperware containers fight for space with open cans of Coke and rotting fruit. Once situated in an office environment, the household appliances so comfortable at home can become truly frightening. Marc Gendron in San Francisco didn't think condiments could go bad until he tried to use some mustard and ketchup from the office fridge shared by 60 people.

Cynics used to predict it would take at least two players to replace the 350-pound William "the Refrigerator" Perry. "It would take me and somebody else, because I only weigh 270 pounds," said Bears defensive tackle Chris Zorich. Perry, 31, who will face the Bears Monday night as a member of the host Philadelphia Eagles, remains adept at stopping the run. The young Bears defensive linemen, struggling to master that skill after Tampa Bay rushed for 123 yards against them, will be challenged by the Eagles' Herschel Walker and Vaughn Hebron.

Devin Hester, endorsement star? Madison Avenue scarcely could have scripted a better campaign for Hester, whose No. 23 jersey was not even among those on sale in apparel shops earlier this season. The Bears' rookie kick returner has played in four nationally televised games this season and had returns for touchdowns in three of them. He took another leap toward becoming a cottage industry in the tradition of William "Refrigerator" Perry when he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns Monday night against the St. Louis Rams.

With a degree in criminology from Florida State, Bears rookie Carl Simpson hopes to become an FBI agent after his football career ends. Sunday night in San Diego, the future fed learned that crime sometimes pays in the NFL, as the Bears proved in stealing a win from the Chargers at Jack Murphy Stadium. Simpson made a crucial special teams play that helped pave the way to the Bears' 16-13 victory, blocking a John Carney field-goal attempt with five minutes left in the first quarter.

Ah, yes, the life of a restaurant critic at home. Let's have a glance in the fridge, shall we? Platters of Scottish salmon, a good-sized slab of foie gras, imported cheeses, several slices of pate de campagne, a smidgen of white truffle under glass and a couple of bottles of bubbly (nothing cheaper than Grande Dame) chilling away. In your dreams. Or, more accurately, in mine. My refrigerator reflects my private existence--suburban married father of two teenage boys--more closely than it does my public one. It is filled with ready-to-eat foods of all sizes and descriptions, befitting a household in which no more than two members are ever hungry at the same time.

In honor of Earth Day, let's do a recycling exercise. Yes, you've been diligent with the paper and plastic that piles up every week, but open the fridge and look inside. C'mon, stick your head in there so you can see what's lurking behind the pickle jar in the back. You see possibilities, despite what your brain registers as a nascent science fair project. You see what dietitian Jackie Newgent calls "vintage cuisine" waiting to be morphed into something delicious. Once known as lowly leftovers, these disparate morsels are whispering "gazpacho" in your ear. They begin to shout "sandwich" and then scream "calzone."

After time, hair spray can build up on bathroom doors or other wood trim. Different hair sprays have different formulas, and they don't all respond the same to cleaning techniques. One suggestion is to use the citrus-based solvent Goo Gone to remove some hair spray from a door. It can take a little time, but the gunk should come off without removing the paint. Chemists on a bulletin board operated by Argonne National Laboratory recommended cleaning with ammonia and water, mineral spirits or rubbing alcohol.

Cone-shape lighting sconces are one of the latest additions to Studio K Glassworks' fused glass production line. The sconces measure 9 1/2 by 19 inches and come in four stock patterns--Border, Dot, Line and Harlequin--and like the rest of Kathleen Ash's creations, have an iridescent surface achieved through the use of a tin salt sprayed on the glass before firing. The sconces slide into a metal bracket mounted to the wall. Line, Border and Harlequin cost $350, Dot $375 at No Place Like, 300 W. Grand Ave. No Place also can order Studio K's other exciting new offering: fused glass wall tiles in Zen-simple patterns.